"Mere ideals are the cheapest things in life. The more ideals a man has the more contemptible he is if the matter ends there, if there is no courage shown, no privations undergone, no scars contracted in the effort to get them realized." William James

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

My Little Letter

Concerning the letter I wrote to Mr. Keller of the New York Times I have received quite a few emails and have been the subject of several online forums. Mostly people agree with what I had to say but there are others who criticize me for numerous things including fanning the flames of hatred towards the media, being over the top, not thinking clearly, and my personal favorite not being a real person who is in the military. All of the discussion has gotten me thinking about what I had to say in my letter.

Is my anger justified and am I over the top with some of my comments in my letter? Well that is up for you to judge but I think it is time for some anger on my part. Gone are the niceties with which I could treat people and actually would prefer to treat people. Why must I continue to act civilly while things are happening that I wholeheartedly disagree with? I think it is high time to get angry with people like the editorial staff at the New York Times. I’ll leave being “nice” to people who are scared to speak out or who have jobs to worry about. I for one am not scared to offend or anger others with my words. I am not running for political office at the time being so I don’t have to worry about votes.

Am I heaping hate and anger onto the subject of the NY Times, WSJ, and the LA Times decision to print secret information? I personally don’t think so. Anyone reading my blog can decide for themselves whether or not they want to be angry, they don’t need me to encourage them to do so.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Washington bureau chief Doyle McManus, Hugh Hewitt tells Mr. McManus that I and fellow soldiers are angry over his paper’s choice to publish stories involving secret information and that we believe they directly affect our lives. Mr. McManus chose to respond with a typical response for someone who knows nothing about the military.

“Well, I respect Sgt. Boggs, and I respect what he's doing for our country. I think accusing newspapers of causing the deaths of soldiers over the last several years because of a story that was printed last week probably adds more heat than light to this discussion.”

What actually adds heat to the situation Mr. McManus is your paper’s choice to publish sensitive information. I am merely expressing what I and, from the comments I have received in the past two days, many Americans feel. And if you want light to come to the situation why don’t you and the rest of the editors who chose to publish the story come out and start answering the tough questions without placing the blame on people like myself.

The bottom line is that I am a 24-year-old sergeant in the army. I get angry at times especially when I am in the sun dressed like a samurai (thanks for the samurai quote Buck Sargent) in 115 degree heat for nine hours a day. The thing about me though is I blame no one for my being in Iraq. I joined the military on my own and did so after 9/11. I figured I would be deployed and am grateful for the opportunity to serve other people in Iraq. I do place blame upon people like the editors of the NYT, LAT, and the WSJ for making things harder on me while I am here. Just like the faulty reporting so far on the incident in Haditha involving the marines the words of reporters directly affect what happens on the ground here in Iraq. Emboldened by the major media sources in America, terrorists all over Iraq who might not have heard about incidents such as the one in Haditha, seek revenge for incidents that probably never happened. For people like the LA Times editor Dean Baquet, who wrote a defense of his paper’s decision to publish the article about the secret program on monday, to think that their publishing information about the Treasury Department’s program to track terrorist finances will have no effect on people’s lives is plain stupid.

“We sometimes withhold information when we believe that reporting it would threaten a life. In this case, we believed, based on our talks with many people in the government and on our own reporting, that the information on the Treasury Department’s program did not pose a threat.” –Dean Baquet

Whether or not the information revealed this past week will affect lives remains to be seen but like I noted in my letter money is a huge part of the equation for terrorists. Without money they would be unable to buy the supplies needed to attack us. If, as a result of their reading the story in one of their favorite (NYT, LAT, and WSJ) American papers, it is now easier for terrorists to escape the eye of our security agencies then lives will be in danger in the future and you can count on that.

Well here I am Mr. McManus, Mr. Keller, Mr. Baquet and anyone else involved in publishing the story. I do not hide my contact info, you can reach me at timfboggs@yahoo.com or if you are like some people who don’t think I am really in the army you can reach me at timothy.boggs@us.army.mil. If you want to know how I feel, if you want to talk to a person who your story directly effects, if you want to accurately gauge how your story has been received email me or send a reporter to interview me. I am not in the green zone but I am sure you can figure something out.

64 comments:

Great post Tim... (as usual) also, great letter to the editor. I would suggest that you have a couple of buddies with you if a reporter does come to talk with you (you may need someone to hold you off of their throat). Of course they probably won't say anything too offensive at an interview, they will just take anything you say out of context or just make up a bit about how much you hate the military or how much you think what you are doing in Iraq is wrong or whatever the line of the day is.

I would suggest you make your own recording of any interview you give so that you can show them to be the liars they are. Just know who you are dealing with here, they are not on our side.

Sgt Boggs, it's about time people such as yourself stand up and make your voice heard! You have every right to be angry at the carelessness and irresponsibility of the media. Know also there are plenty of people back home who support you! Thank you for fighting for us!

At almost 50 years old I have to admit that I have never so much hatred for parts of our society. Mainly the press and the Democrats. There is most definitely a substantial group of americans that hate this country. To have all you brave men put in a position where that hatred can cause loss of life makes my blood boil for a second American Revolution to rid ourselves of the infantile and dangerous people that occupy the left. I do not mean that this should take place with the use of arms. No, lets hit them right in the wallet. I urge everyone to boycott the NY & LA Times and there sponsors. Best wishes to all you guys.

Semper Fi Sergeant....Fight the good fight.I think that he's feeling the heat and rather than admit that he's an anti-American bigot who would rather expose our secrets and risk lives of servicemen than expose the secrets of his fellow socialists in China and elsewhere.

If you do get interviewed in person or the phone, please record it, Todd is right, they are not on our side.

Anger can do funny things to a person. Pre-9/11, I paid as much attention to politics (and anything that happened out of the state of Texas) as I did to what the latest Hard Rock songs were. Which is to say, none.

But when they killed my fellow Americans in New York I got angry and have stayed that way ever since.

Along the way, I found out who was against America and our Military besides the Islamics. So I got even madder. I also found out who and what they are teaching our kids in college now and got even madder.

Then they slaughtered our Soldiers and Bush didn't say a cross word to anybody about it, I got even madder.

Then the NYT, once again published classifed material. I had no more anger, only sorrow and contempt at people so screwed up in their thinking, that they would continue to do these dispicable things.

So, cherish your anger and when you have the chance, at every chance, channel it against those within and without our wonderful Republic that would do us harm.

Paybacks a bitch, I learned that long ago and what goes around...well you know the rest.

Ditto what everyone else said, especially Don and Papa Ray. What amazed me was to hear someone in NY so totally oblivious to what this enemy wants to do to us...I mean they've already done it in their city. What happened to NEVER FORGET? Guess the Times forgot.

Tim, once again pure poetry on your part. I also sent my fair share of hate mail to senators and the NYT. What a bunch of F'ing douchebags. All the hard work that goes into being in the military and it gets pissed right down the drain b/c a couple papers have their own agenda against the president. keep up the fight, stay safe and I miss you man!

Bill Keller wrote his own letter of justification in the NY Times. A pathetic attempt to ease his consciousness and to deflect and lay blame on everyone that has voiced his/her objection, anger, frustration, and vehement hate of and towards The NYT, the MSM, and their blantant agenda that involves deliberately putting the US, its citizens, and our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in further danger, and that lends support both moral and otherwise to those seeking to destroy us- THE TERRORISTS- for whom the NSA program and this banking program WERE successfully tracking and immobilizing.

What Both Mr Keller and Mr McManus fail to understand or simply refuse to acknowledge isn't whether or not making this information public will weaken these effective programs as terrorists shift tactics) (which it will) but that they are willfully aiding and abetting our enemies by providing them with proof of what we are doing to protect ourselves.

In a battle field, if an embed gets wind of a mission, and he decides to write about it BEFORE it happens, he has now let the enemy know what is about to happen. By any standard that is a crime, and he becomes a traitor. His "rights" protected by the constitution become instantly revoked.

The founding fathers believed in the freedom of the press BUT NOT at the expense of protecting the citizenry. Something Bill and Doyle ( the Laurel and Hardy of the print media) conveniently omit when attempting to use the constitution and our founding fathers to justify their reprehensible actions.

While it is those within the White House administration that have leaked this and other information who MUST be punished, the paper and its editors, while protected by the very constituational rights our enemies uphor and seek to destroy, have a greater obligation to THEIR country than to making headlines, supporting our enemies, and endangering our lives by exposing various elements of our battleplan to our enemies under the bogus guise that Americans have a "right " to know.

AMERICANS DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW EVERYTHING. THEY DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW EVERY SECRET OPERATION OUR GOV'T IS UNDERTAKING TO PROTECT US AND OUR ENEMIES SURE AS HELL DO NOT!!!!

These men have exposed our battleplan to the enemy. Our enemies do not work and live in a vacuum, they live and work in the US, Canada, the UK, FRANCE, SPAIN, ITALY, SWEDEN, to name a few countries, as well every arab nation.

THEY read our newspapers, they watch our tv news, they have access to and successfully utilize the internet.

When you share our battleplans with Americans you share them with the world INCLUDING our enemies.

Doesn't Bill understand that our enemies HATE him,Hate the freedom he has,Hate liberals, hate secularism, hate AMERICANS, and want to kill HIM as well as the rest of us?

Are he and Doyle, and other editors who ran this story, all incapable of reasoning that any story that reveals what we are doing to track these enemies only benefits THEM and offers NO benefit to Americans??

The founders of our country did NOT believe that freedom of the press usurps the protection of its citizens.

For Bill Kellar to suggest otherwise as he did in his "letter of justification" is disingenuous at the least and an outright lie at the most.

Bill and Doyle fail to understand that we are at war. Plain and fucking simple. WE ARE AT WAR.

To reveal any actions taken by our gov't meant to defend us from our enemies during war is irresponsible at the very least and the act of traitors at the worst.

To simply deny that this endangers us to justify their actions is both disingenuous and a lie,and speaks to pathetic state of mind of these two men.

They also fail to realize that it is not simply the revealing of THIS battle tactic in our war on terrorism, or the revealing of the NSA battle tactic on our war on terrorism but it is the collective body of lies, distortions, half truths about the state of Iraq; about GITMO(such as the lie about the Koran being flushed down a toilet, the alleged torture of terrorists who are being given five star dinners) that has greater repercussions that newspaper sales: about our soldiers and Marines in combat who they falsely accuse of murdering civilians(Haditha, Marine Lt Pantano)and of a cover up without any real evidence under than Murtha's insane ramblings, and the "eyewitness"" of a scared and likely manipulated child, and yet voice NO outrage over the indescribably brutal torture of two captured American soldiers,(no word about terrorists "violating the Geneva convention")and their overinflated endless harping about the childish acts of five or six soldiers at Abu G who have ALL been punished; while failing daily to write about the overwhelming number of positive accomplishments our troops achieve monthly, while failing to acknowledge the brave Iraqi citzenery that stands up DAILY to the insanity of the "insurgency" ( TERRORIST YOU ASSES) and failing to admit that Iraq has accomplished far more in far shorter a period of time on the road to a fully functional democracy than the US accomplished in 150 years.

This latest revelation of our battle tactics finally appears to be the straw that broke their camels back!!

What goes around comes around - my latest blog entry is titled "The MSM is Sinking FAST and Shareholders are FURIOUS".

The LA Times, The NY Times,a The Chicago Tribune and many other print and tv media are suffering badly, and while Bill and Doyle and other MSM editors have a habit of deflecting blame, this time the shareholders won't let them.

Thank you for taking the time to write that letter to the Times. I discovered how untrustworthy their reporting was when I was forced to subscribe for a sociology class a little over a year after 9/11. You have every right to be angry, and you expressed your anger in a mature and intelligent way. Bravo!

From such humble beginnings Tim...Maybe there is hope for the least of us out here. Freedom of speech and of the press is great. We are thankful for those who speak the truth responsibly. You're a good example for the rest of us to follow, consistently and continually. May you and your readers never grow weary. Thanks again Sgt. Boggs. Keep your head down. We need you.A&N

From such humble beginnings Tim...Maybe there is hope for the least of us out here. Freedom of speech and of the press is great. We are thankful for those who speak the truth responsibly. You're a good example for the rest of us to follow, consistently and continually. May you and your readers never grow weary. Thanks again Sgt. Boggs. Keep your head down. We need you.A&N

Tim,I noticed something. Let's face it, I've never been the sharpest knife in the drawer, so it's a big deal for me. Your story about Qayarrah (I think I spelled it wrong) on Mike Yon's FLF was good news, a good story and encouraging to me. It didn't get as much buzz as your letter of rebuttal to the NY Times though, which was great by the way. Is this consistent with bad news getting more attention than good news? Maybe we should respond to good news with as much enthusiam as we do to bad. Just a thought Tim and probably not important but what do you think since you have received feedback on both? How does it influence you now with your writing? Neatie

I Have to agree with everything Papa Ray said. Keep that anger focussed on the bastards. They are traitors. With this mind set they would have reported that the Allies had the Enigma machine and could crack every coded message the Germans sent. From Michelle Malkin's blog I learned that the bastards are at it again. What follows is from the the NYT July 25th:

"The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say. According to a classifed briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007...

...General Casey's briefing has remained a closely held secret, and it was described by American officials who agreed to discuss the details only on condition of anonymity."

While I make no claim to often find myself in the news or close to it, it simply astounds me how in every single instance I have been part of or close to a story, the media (be it local, regional or national) has never once failed to drastically bung it up in some way, shape or form.

And all of this from a profession which supposedly prides itself on integrity, fairness, and commitment to the truth.

In this case, the assertion that exposing this program doesn't risk lives can only be described as 'asinine.'

Les Claypool said it best:

The pulse is beating louder nowThe cramps in my hands grow more intense with each Tik, tik, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap on the keysMy social life is at an end so it seems to beWhy don't I trample on your lawn today?I'll take skies of blue, turn over skies of greyI write between the linesI deal with fantasyI am the pressmanAcknowledge me

Well i respect that you are putting your life on the line everyday for the bush admins war. It comes down to protecting our personal freedoms, or giving up some for so called safety. I believe in keeping this country as free as possible. Everything that we went into Iraq for (WMDS, Tie to 9/11 Etc) have turned out to be false. If our government can be so wrong what else are they in the wrong about. There has to be some sort of accountability. I would rather be told that American citizens are being spied on without a warrant then it being kept a secret. The govement isn't an all knowing God, They are elected by the people, therefor they should inform us as to what they are doing. Instead the republicans try to create laws to prosecute the press? what country are we living in?????can't wait until November, when the truth comes out, and those who think the dems can't take control of the house and senate. Think again the majority of American disagree with this war / the president / and republicans. Conservatives are not the majority of the public. You can't disregard poll numbers forever.

I'm no kid. I have never had the Federal Government spy on me - and if by chance they did it did not affect my life in any way. I am not worried about what they are currently doing. I hope they are doing all they can to stop terrorists. If any of your readers, Sgt. Boggs, can honestly prove that they have been spied on by our government and that it had a detrimental affect on them I wish they would put up or shut up. Annie

Another point that seems to be ignored is that since America can't seem to keep it's own secrets, why would any other country trust us to keep theirs? The NY Times has been on Pres. Bush from day one about how badly we need allies and bemoaning the fact that some countries haven't joined with us in the GWOT (Bush's fault, of course). Now, the NY Times betrays not just America, but it's allies. They can spin & try to cover their butts all they want, but they won't convince a majority of patriots!

Sorry dude, but my knowing that there is a possibility that the government is looking into my personal finances or tapping my phone, is not what may get you killed. What may get you killed is that stupid person sitting in the White House at this very minute. I think you might know him. He's the President that didn't win any elections.

It's funny how all the negative stuff I wrote about the Times way back at the start of my deployment now seems almost a tame response in lieu of their penchant for topping their own treasonous behavior. I never thought they'd be able to top breaking the NSA wiretapping story on the exact same day as the Iraqi elections in order to overshadow their success, not to mention the same week the Senate was debating the reauthorization of the Patriot Act.

It's a good thing I'm not in charge of Homeland Security, because the NYT has actually now violated our ROE's and become a threat. Smart bomb, anyone..? Anyone..? Bueller..?

In a token defense of the MSM, I will say that Kimberly Johnson of USA Today is a fantastic reporter. I met her when she was in Mosul and she was covering our battalion, and if you haven't read all her dispatches from all over the country, there's no way you can understand how things really are here.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/iraq/

Whenever I read her stuff, I always think "now THAT'S the real Iraq," warts and all, not that unrecognizable pap that Time and co. are always shoveling.

If you think the reasons to go into Iraq were lies, you need to start reading the Kay, Duelfer and even UNMOVIC's reports on Iraq's WMD programs. A book called "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu and a review Saddam's take on Ba'athism and of the number of allies we have bordering Iraq or within the borders of what would constitute a "Pan-Arab empire" would be advisable reading as well.

If you think President Bush didn't win his first Presidential election, you need to read the Constitution and then the results of the press recounts (in that order).

If you think President Bush didn't win the 2004 elections, you're from an alternate reality to this one.

Look, I don't like Bush either (and I have plenty of good reasons not to), but there's a GIGANTIC difference between rational dissention and simply refusing to beleive that anything he does, says or stands for could POSSIBLY be true, intelligent or otherwise "the right thing to do." That difference would be that the former is constructive while the latter is infantile and utterly non-productive.

I also find it instructive that the NYT can print sensitive information that would get you or I courtmartialed if we were to reveal the same on our blogs.

Heck, just think if President Bush had been the one to break the NSA or banking stories. The Times would accuse him of endangering national security! They already did that once when he declassified and released the national intelligence estimate or something (I forget exactly what it was) a few months back. As if the President himself doesn't have the authority to declassify something! The people at the Times are literally insane. There's really just no other rational explanation for their behavior.

I give them about as much credibility as DailyKos and the like by this point, which is to say, zilch.

Very good letter to Keller. Really hope more people will tell him and his paper what they think.

As a Vietnam war vet, (I kept my medals), it became evident during that time that the media was distorted, and very anti-military. The Vietnam I saw was nothing like what Time and others protrayed.

Thus, guess I am not surprised, only disappointed in the NY times as well as others for "Blowing it" related to this spy program. For my two cents, everything we can do to help the US Military do its mission is OK with me. Seems like some of the libs forget we are at war, and as the old saying goes, all is fair in love and war. Well, it is war, the Keller and buddies are just helping the enemy. I would say off to jail, but I am afraid our commander in chief is too much of the light weight to push the matter. Hope some congressman push this issue of disclosure and the additional danger it has put our servicemen in to the max.

Thank you and all your buddies for defending our freedom. Too bad so many others do not realize the value of our freedom. Would really like to hear them squeal if we were under Islamic control. It would be off with their heads. They simply are too stupid to realize we are in a war for survival, and the American service man is what is protecting their freedom of press. What a bunch of dummies.

Thank you for your words and your service! I wish more would speak out against those who try to make our millitary the bad guys. I have met a few soldiers coming back from Iraq and they are heros of mine. Keep fighting! Keep safe! Keep coming back home!

Great letter. Thank you for your service. You and all of the military are in my prayers.

The NY Times, LA Times, WSJ, Washington Post and whoever else printed this should be investigated.

Also go after the leakers of this CLASSIFIED information.

Public safety has been the #1 priority of our government, and like him or not President Bush has made that clear.

The anti American, anti Bush haters should be glad they live in a country where they can FREELY spew their vile. In most countries like the former IRAQ they would have been killed speaking out against their leader.

gee, boggsy, ya stirred up a li'l tempest dint ya? good. keep hammering. keep fighting. those of us who understand why this country is great will never ever forget your service either in the sandbox or in cyberspace.

How is it that you can write straight common sense - whereas the clever and highly-paid guys the NYT and LA Times have failed to produce any coherent reason for their publishing of classified information that adds to the risk of terrorism ?

The LA Times has even failed to report that the Swift programme helped nail the main man behind the Bali bombing.

Thank you and all the other Coalition troops in Iraq for your service.

What can I say???? You are dead on as always! I love that you keep giving them hell.

I learned a very personal lesson about bullies a long time ago...

There is the theory that if you ignore them long enough, they will go away. Yet there are plenty of people on this earth that lack any conscience or soul, and for them ignorance(as a matter of trying to get on with life) only makes them work harder to provoke a response. Preferrably one that makes the responder look worse than themselves. It is many times necessary, even a matter of survival, to GET PISSED OFF, provided you can keep your senses about you and show them up the right way, or else you could wind up looking worse. YOU and all our troops have been the "bigger persons" for way too long. So I say get angry, stay angry, and be angry until you've made them squirm, which you have obviously started to do. These idiots cannot stand the thought that you have a venue to SPEAK YOUR MIND. You are not, after all, a "journalist". Hee hee hee. I can't even say that word with a straight face any longer.

We are strangers, yet you make me beam with pride and I am so grateful to you for all you do and all you go through to wear our uniform.

Great work. Crossing my fingers they have the balls to talk to you. I just met an 87 year old fellow at a birthday party in Boston last week. We spent 10-15 minutes chatting about his life in the Boston area and he finally mentioned he was in the service. After a little prompting he told me he served under Patton in the 3rd Army, and he saw 3 major battles with him...

"One was in Sicily, the other was along the Rhine..."

I interrupted him, "You don't mean the Battle of the Bulge do you?"

"No, that was the third battle..."

My jaw dropped, I shook his hand, thanked him, and got us a couple more drinks to really settle down and start listening.

I wrotethe paper and its editors, while protected by the very constitutional rights our enemies uphor and seek to destroy

You wrote Newspapers have no "special rights". While the government can not stop them from printing anything before hand it absolutely can prosecute them after the fact.

I never said 'special rights" I said 'constitutional rights".The media are fully protected under the First Amendment. I never said the couldn't be prosecuted on other grounds..they can..but its HIGHLY UNLIKELY they will be..and its even less likely the gov't would win.

The gov't under the first amendment guarantees a free public press for its citizens and their associations. This freedom is extended to members of news gathering organizations, and their published reporting. The U.S. courts have held that the press has a "watchdog" role over government and is not subject to prior restraint or registration. On the other hand, defamation, obscenity and publication of national-security secrets have been generally determined not eligible for protection under the First Amendment.

I have already made it clear that we are at war and therefore in my opinion, revealing any secret actions the gov't takes to protect us from those who seek to destroy us, is by fiat an act of treason, and subject to prosecution.

However, that is a personal opinion...the Constitution differs:

Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes applied the reach of the First Amendment Press Clause to the states (it had previously applied only to Congress), and reiterated the idea that no government, except in the case of a wartime emergency, can curtail a newspaper's constitutional right to publish. This did not mean that newspapers could not be punished on other grounds, or sued by individuals for defamation. But it laid the groundwork for two significant developments more than three decades later remain the pillars on which our press stands today.

I do not believe this would be viewed as being in violation of a "wartime emergency" by the courts...even though I personally believe it should be! I did not say the media couldnt be prosecuted for print the story.

Bottom line...The Media can print the story and are fully protected by the Constitution.

The government can prosecute after the fact, that is true..never said it wasn't.And if fact, prior restraint can be applied.

Even in the case of the Pentagon Papers where the court ruled in favor of the press...the Court did not say that under no cirmcumstances can prior restraint be imposed....prior restraint CAN be imposed IF it is clearly sensitive material during a time of war.

A court would have to rule unequivocably that this story as well as the NSA story qualified as CLEARLY sensitive material during a time of war.

We argue that it is..but don't expect the courts to agree.

I believe that any freedom or liberty taken to an extreme can lead to license..and that the NY Times along with others in the MSM, have taken far too much license!

Some of the editorials point out that if the NYT continues and so does John Murtha, Republicans will rule the next election. There is a certain logical illogic in that! Stay safe and come home well- I wish you the bestPat

Yes, Huntress. It all sounds good. But what happened to the times when individual Americans had sway and we didn't depend on the government or lawyers to take care of every traitor or even every child abuser. There was a time when we citizens recognized our responsibilities and we acted to eliminate scoundrels from our midst on our own - -by writing letters, by cutting off the money flow to the crooked business man, by running wife beaters out of town. Can we do nothing anymore on our own without waiting for some court or government enitity to act? They won't. They have been emasculated by liberalism, by multiculturalism by cowardly enemies of our once great country. We need to do more that talk. We need to act by speaking the truth at every oportunity, by refusing to fund businesses and media that want us to lose this war against terrorism for whatever reasons and by acting like Americans again. Talk is cheap - -action may cost us something. We'll see if we still have it as a people or not. Are there too many of the "Me" generation among us to make the sacrifices necessary to bring these traitors down?I pray not. Annie

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I have received a lot of support this past week so I know I am not the only one in this fight. As far as what should happen to those who printed the story and those who leaked the information I am not really sure, I'm not a lawyer yet. One thing I do know is that a boycott is working for Michael Yon and his fight against Shock Magazine so why wouldn't it work against the Times and gang. I personally don't know who advertises with the times but I am sure if people started writing letters to them it would share the heat we all feel about this subject. At anyrate keep writing letters and telling your congressmen how you feel. I look forward to seeing what happens with all of this.

as the wife of a soilder soon to be deployed to iraq, i stand behind you absolutely 100%. when geraldo rivera pulled a similar stunt several years ago, people across america were appalled. other media outlets criticized him and his tactics. what the nyt, lat, and wsj are doing is the exact same thing!!! the soilders in iraq and across the world are putting their lives on the line everyday for us, the least we could do as a nation is try a little harder to protect them. kudos, tim, and know that there are many people here praying for your safe return.rachel

SGT Boggs, thanks for volunteering. It's men like you that make this country great and keep our military on top. I'm a reservist, also, and feel that it is an honor to serve. Unfortunately, it appears that many people derive their sense of honor from attacking their own country and countrymen. This is difficult to understand and even more difficult to stomach. Maybe their sense of honor is more closely tied to arrogance, self-aggrandizement and condescension. It is certain that the editors and reporters of the papers that you mention are not acting in the public interest of the country that nurtures them.

God Bless You Sgt. and all the military fighting the good fight "over there". The NYT, LAT, ans WSJ also need money to continue on with their treasonous ways. I believe that a grass roots movement is afoot to let these people know just how angry real America is. An advertiser in the Atlanta paper took out a full page ad apologising for the paper's poorly thought out editorial positions. They are contractually bound to advertise, but they are using their money to tell us they disagree with the paper. Those editors do not represent the real America, they have an agenda and are becoming, either through a lack of response or just frustration at being unable to unseat our President, brazen in their hatred one of the few countries in the world that allows them the very rights they claim to use to put all americans in mortal peril. When and if another attack happens on our soil, who will hold them responsible? Who among them will accept and admit their part in such an attack?

Isn't it pathetic - our solders are on foreign soil fighting for America AND from afar they are having to fight our own who are giving aid and comfort to our enemies.Your "little letter" is making waves here at home. Keep it up Boggs!!!This is anger well directed.And thank you for your service.Andrea in California

Very good blog, Tim. I agree 100%. If the newspapers don't 'affect' lives, what are they doing running a newspaper?

I agree that treason needs to become part of our language again. Unfortunately, we are reaping the results of our educational system because those who are reporters, editors and newspaper owners are a product of the '60's' and what was being pumped into them. We are seeing that our universities no longer prize freedom of speech but 'political correctness'.

Why would that mentallity change when they get into the business world?

The newspapers want to affect lives as well as make money? Then why don't they print both sides of ANY issue instead of trying to indoctrinate? Simple question which is never answered. They won't even hire anyone who disagrees with them, let alone asks questions regarding an issue. Sound familiar???

Thanks for writing your thoughts from someone who is there. What could be more 'real'?

Oh, not only the Times should be prosecuted for treason, the ONE who leaked the information to them should be hunted down. There is the real security threat.

How many enemies do we have within our own country anyway? The MSM? Definitely. The PC people running our education system? Ypu bet. And now this morning with this ruling by the Supreme Court? Well, our justice system has been liberal for a long time, but this tops itall.It Boggles a sane persons mind! Thank you Sgt. Boggs. I hope your example, your courage, your will to keep our Country safe from terrorism and those who promote terrorism, inside our country as well as in foreign lands, will be followed by the real American people. I don't consider traitors real Americans even if they are "citizens". If we don't step forward and act now we will not have a country to defend. Thanks to the Supreme Court the terrorists now have more rights than the victms of terrorists do. This will be an interesting one for you to watch Tim - -in your free time while you are fighting a war for us. There is no way we can thank you enough. May God help us all.

Huntress we agree on all but the likelihood of a successful prosecution of the press for publishing classified information in a time of war. In this case a classified program that has proven to be effective in the apprehension of terrorists.

My original point was only to say that “freedom of the press” does not mean the main stream press. It means freedom of the people to print their opinions. Under the constitution what we know today as the MSM is considered the same as “the people”.

I have no argument with anything else you said.

Now all that being said, I don’t think prosecuting the NYT reporters or editors would be productive however I do think insisting they name their sources (the leakers) as in the Valerie Plame case is appropriate and should be done immediately.

It is completely appropriate to heap anger onto the the NY Times, the LA Times and anyone else who decided to print secret information. They have betrayed our fighting forces who are in harm's way, and they have betrayed the nation by continuing the possibility that there be another 911. I personally am very angry about it.

God Bless you "son" you guys & gals are awesome, you not only volunteer to fight to keep us here @ home safe & free ya'll wage the fight to make the world a better place than you found it. Thank you! Thank you very much!

1st Thank You Thank You Thank You for your service to this great Country 2nd a list of advertisers at the ny times is posted at Michelle Malkins site from yesterday. I know the times will remember this time as the moment when they were finally removed from the public conscience. The paper of record for terrorists will just be a history lesson in 20 years.

Great stuff however it is coming out that there is a website open to the public as well as a magazine devoted to the banking investigations. The president has repeatedly talked about this activity, I was puzzled that there was any suprise about this very open investigation. Sorry I don't have the referance sources for this post but I assure you they are there.

You brave men and women deserve the best including all the info not just the spin of the day.

Tim, we owe you a great debt of gratitude, both for your service to our country and for taking action against another of our foes from within, the NYT.

I enjoy all your posts and am glad you are receiving so much attention over this post. You said our concerns so well, too, and get a lot more traction with your assessment than we ever would.

Keep up the good work. We heartily support you and your friends to the max.

It's fascinating to read anonymous commenters stuck in fantasy worlds of lost elections or no WMDs or no al Qaeda links, etc., when the facts have negated their arguments for years. It really lets us know what we're up against on the home front.

I still revel in the knowledge their hero Clinton never even received 50% of the vote, and that Bush blew their socks off this past election with more votes than anyone has ever received.

Sgt. Boggs, I do not claim to know all there is to know about what's going on in the world, but I do know that the NY Times, the Ted Kennedys, the John Kerrys, etc of the country just don't get it.I equate their views on Iraq with a mother and child in a grocery store. The mother has continually threatened her child that if he doesn't stop acting like an idiot, there will be ramifications. Of course, instead of ramifications, the child gets rewarded with a piece of candy. The mother feels better because the child is now quiet and she didn't have to "hurt the child's feelings". This process is great until the next time they are in the store.These guys love to play arm chair quarterback. They make me laugh and then they make me sad. But enough about those idiots. You and your fellow soldiers are doing the hardest of jobs and I can't thank you enough. I wish I could be there with you, but I am too old and can't do more than 2.5 push-ups. Please know that here is a silent majority of Americans who think what you guys & gals are doing is amazing. Keep your chin up but your head down. We see the sacrifice, the effort and the strength you show every minute of every day. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wish you all success and good luck with your job over there and after it is done, I wish you safe passage back home. You are all heroes!

Sgt. Boggs I first want to say than you for your service to this great country. Your opinions on the news media are 100% right on but I just want you to know that inspite of the overall Bias news media theres alot of Americans THAT GET IT. Once again I say thank you for your service and thank you to everyone who fights to keep this great country free inspite of the news media

The media may not be the most detested institution in America, but it is surely a contender for the title. A Harris poll in March found that only 14 percent of American adults express a ``great deal" of confidence in the press, while 34 percent -- one American in three -- have ``hardly any" confidence in it.

The nation's most trusted institution, by contrast, is the military. According to Harris, 47 percent of Americans have a ``great deal" of confidence in the armed forces. Only 14 percent have ``hardly any." No doubt it is just a coincidence that the small fraction of the public that disdains the military is equal to the small fraction that greatly admires the media. But at a time when prominent newspapers are running stories that are apt to get more soldiers killed, I'll bet Sergeant Boggs and Lieutenant Cotton don't think so.

"Well, I respect Sgt. Boggs, and I respect what he's doing for our country. I think accusing newspapers of causing the deaths of soldiers over the last several years because of a story that was printed last week probably adds more heat than light to this discussion."

Unbe-freakin'-lievable. Words of a charlatan, who's had way too easy a time of things.

I am not running for political office at the time being[emphasis mine] so I don’t have to worry about votes.

I have read your letter and its followup post at your blog. I am deeply grieved and ashamed that you should ever have felt the need to write it.

I have been behind the War on Terror since 9/12/01, and I have supported the men and women in the US Military and other branches of government who are doing their best to keep the terrorists far away from us, and to end their malevolent influence on the world at large. I know the truth; the Marines are nto baby-killers, they are baby-savers. The lack of support from some ungrateful Americans could be forgiven, but the willful interference and opposition is unforgivable and unconscionable.

My brother-in-law's sister is a Marine lieutentant out of Annapolis, she has done her time in the Gulf, and will doubtless return there again. I was worried aobut her for her deployment over there, and I worry about her return, for the enemy knows no "front line" and no restraint. The idea that some self-righteous, self-serving newsie could jeopardize her safety and the safety of her comrades to sell some newspapers is appalling.

God bless all you Marines out there fighting to protect us from the evil of this world. Sorry we at home could not muster the 100% support we know you deserve. You'll just have to accept the thanks & devotion of the 52% who do, and stand by your duty for the rest.

I'm a Canadian who's altogether pro-American. (So is our new minority Conservative government under the able leadership of our fine Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.) And I thank God for George W. Bush!

I felt proud of you and Lt. Cotton for speaking truth to lies. Keep hanging tough (as if I need to say that to YOU!): the MSM deserves to be brought down more than a notch or two. They've lied and connived for decades.

They're just as bad in Canada: even worse. We have no equivalent of Fox News. We also have state paid networks, e.g., the CBC--Canadian Broadcasting Corporation--which is EVERY BIT as bad as the NYT, but paid for by the taxpayer. That really riles me.

I have the greatest regard for the USA and thank God that it stands between the Western World--I'm not sure I can call it Civilization anymore (see Mark Steyn today too, about the latest, toady SCOTUS decision)--and Armageddon.

That the "useful idiots" in both our countries don't see this and actually aid and abet the enemy makes my blood boil.

Our fine Canadian and American fighting men and women are in my thoughts and prayers each day. God bless Canada. And GOD BLESS AMERICA! (God bless you too.)

About Me

This blog contains the archived posts from my second deployment to Iraq with the army. Since returning home in late 2006 I started a new website that can be found at www.voxveterana.com. Stop by and visit the new site and read the posts here in your spare time.